"Fukurokov!" Speedy yelled as he stomped through the door to the old owl's lab.

The doctor wheeled around, somewhat startled by the prince's tone, but also a little happy. "You finally got it right, Lord Speedy! Granted, you didn't include my title, but that's forgivable, I thin–"

"Nevermind that!" the Kukku heir interrupted him, pointing a finger at him accusingly, "what's this I hear about an operation that you had carried out?"

"Ah, yes," the elderly bird replied, his beak slowly curving up into a smirk, "I presented and executed a most wonderful plan to bolster the strength of His Highness while you were recuperating. One that allowed us to obtain many new recruits for the Empire earlier this evening."

Speedy crossed his arms and fixed on Dr. Fukurokov with a skeptical look. "Am I to believe these people came along willingly?"

"Their initial compliance is not a factor," the owl answered amusedly, "not when the Chaos Emerald will allow my Conversion Therapy to operate at peak efficiency."

The ace flier shuddered and ruffled up his feathers. It was an uncomfortable fact that there was a rather sizable minority among their numbers that had not joined or stayed of their own accord. The doctor's "Conversion Therapy" was what he called the process regarding the machines he strapped people into in order to conscript them into service. Much of the work on the "patients" was done via chemical injection, though the device was equipped with other functions to aid the process. Pro-Empire propagandistic projections, hypnotic audio, and other such ways of contorting the subject emotionally and mentally were available. It wasn't perfect, as "follow-up treatments" were common in order to maintain control.

The prince found the practice utterly repugnant, though not just the idea. That his father approved of the creation and of the application of such a procedure left an even more bitter taste. The GBK preached about his son being free to rule as he saw fit, but wouldn't let a bird refuse to join the Empire, and would go even this far to make them a part of its forces. It was hypocrisy, but as his father was still in power, there was nothing Speedy could do to change things. Not yet, anyway. For the time being, he would instead scrutinize the doctor's methods and results.

"Well, doctor, as I am second in the chain of command," he began evenly, pulling his rank, "I order that you debrief me on this latest success of yours. Perhaps I'll put in a good word to my father and he may consider upping your budget."

The owl's sudden shift in body language made it seem he was no longer so enthusiastic about his accomplishment. He gave the prince a weirdly curt report on the operation: a diversion and infiltration mission into the Chemical Plant Complex located within Canton City. How he'd used a small squadron of Robo Kukkus and one of his personal pet projects to act as a distraction while a company of combatants had abducted Animals and Critters alike. While Speedy may not have agreed with the plan or the method, he was begrudgingly impressed by how well the doctor had pulled it off. They'd have another such unit soon enough thanks to these efforts.

However, there was one detail that Fukurokov seemed to be neglecting to mention, or perhaps, was deliberately keeping quiet about.

"All personnel are accounted for?" Speedy inquired of the doctor.

Dr. Fukurokov appeared offended by the suggestion that he'd failed to bring their boys home. "Of course, my prince! I am nothing if not efficient!"

"So if I inspect the hangar and storage later, I won't find any missing units, doctor?" the young adult pressed on.

He was disappointed when a look of shock crossed the owl's face, only to be swiftly replaced by a nervous smile as if to hope the prince hadn't just seen that. Said hopes were dashed with the next question.

"The Robo Kukkus and your little spider were destroyed, weren't they?" Speedy concluded with a tired sigh, "gee, what a surprise."

Dr. Fukurokov would have been more incensed at the sarcasm, but the prince had him dead to rights. If he lied and said that his creations were accounted for, Speedy could and would easily prove him wrong. And the GBK would certainly not like hearing that misinformation was fed to his son. Seeing that he couldn't hide any longer, the owl allowed his real emotions to come out.

"It was that accursed Miles Prower!" he screeched in fury, "he and his toddling little friend scrapped my preci–"

"Wait, wait, hold on," the prince cut him off, genuinely surprised at this bit of news, "that fox is here on West Side Island?" The owl nodded and was about to speak before a hand was held up in front of him. "Did you include this in the report to my father?" When the smaller avian shook his head sheepishly, Speedy growled at him irritably. "Why?"

Dr. Fukurokov touched his two index digits together and moved his gaze downward. "I fear for my remaining expectancy in the wake of His Majesty's wrath."

"You must have some morbid curiosity then, doc," Speedy retorted menacingly as he narrowed his eyes, "because if you think Father will be mad when he learns Miles is here, you can bet he'll be downright pissed when he finds out you hid such pertinent information when it could've been provided sooner!"

Normally, the chief engineer was not intimidated by the prince's displays or words. But, in that moment, Speedy had that same volatile demeanor that the GBK himself carried when things didn't go his way. And he knew that the ace's words were not a bluff, not when he'd seen for himself the sorts of punishments his leader was willing to dole out. There was nary a soul aboard this vessel that hadn't been given one of His Majesty's infamous disciplinary actions, whether directly or passed down the chain. He quivered at the memory of having to re-outfit the Battle Fortress' entire collection of weaponry, both on the craft itself as well as those used by the soldiers, by himself to answer for his failed rogue mission against Miles Prower and his two traveling companions at the time.

He rather wouldn't go through that or anything like it again; the process had taken him months.

"You make a strong argument, my prince," Dr. Fukurokov conceded, "please do not leave out anything when you speak with His Majesty."

Speedy frowned at the old owl's statement. "Oh, I won't be the one making the amendment in your report to our Emperor," he continued as he grabbed one of the doctor's arms and began to coercively walk him to the exit, "that's going to be you."

"W-wait, Lord Speedy!" the engineer protested, struggling feebly against his grip, "there is no need to bother the Great Battle Kukku personally! I can inform him through the communications from here!"

The heir simply ignored him and continued to drag him along, his thoughts occupied with what he'd discovered.

'It's almost like fate is bringing us together again,' he mused, 'first, I found the magenta Emerald, and now, you've shown up. I wonder if things will end the same way as when we last saw each other.' A scowl spread across his face as he pulled the doctor with him into the elevator and rode it up. 'I suppose we'll just have to see when the time comes, right, Miles? But, before then...'

The elevator dinged and the two continued on, the doctor having given up fighting against the ace's grip. They walked into the command center, where Dr. Fukurokov was lightly shoved by Speedy to stand between him and his father. The GBK, who had been looking over a few documents, peered up from them, then stood with a smile.

"Ah, Dr. Fukurokov," the Emperor greeted him amicably, "such a splendid showing with that mission you proposed. We'll have quite a few more able bodies after this!"

Speedy cleared his throat and jabbed the doctor in the back, who glared at him, but the younger bird's own firm expression made him back down.

"The doctor wishes to revise his earlier report," the prince said.

The GBK regarded his son, then tilted his head towards the eldery scientist.

"Oh?" he wondered aloud, taking a few steps forward and peering down at the owl, "is there something you neglected to add, my old friend?"

Dr. Fukurokov trembled as he felt his much taller superior loom over him, taking in a deep breath to try and steel himself.

"You know, uh," the old bird stuttered, "one thing I should..."

The GBK's smile morphed into a dark smirk. "Tell me right now, Dmitri, or I'll pry it from you myself. Do you want that?"

"No, please!" The owl fell to his knees and bowed his head. "I had not wished to burden Your Excellency after another successful mission! But, I am afraid I must report that...Miles Prower is here, and he knows we are present as well!"

Gasps rang out through the command room, and murmurs spread at the mention of that fox.

"That crazy kid that brought us down last time?"

"He wouldn't be a kid anymore at this point. That's even scarier!"

"Oh, hell no! I don't wanna fight that!"

"Silence!" cried the GBK, his voice echoing throughout the chamber. Once he saw that everyone immediately ceased their squawking, the Emperor stared down at Dr. Fukurokov with an almost crazed look. "You are going to tell me everything that you know about his movements and involvement on West Side Island. Now!"

The old owl shivered and whimpered pathetically under his leader's terrifying aura of authority. He was afraid he wasn't going to get out of this one in great shape.


Miles and Sonic found themselves amazed by the sight of the landscape once he entered the Aquatic Ruin Reserve proper. It had taken them a bit to get there, as aside from the matter of breakfast, the fox had also bought some new gloves and gotten his shoes repaired. While he admitted they'd probably get damaged again soon, he insisted he would run better if they weren't falling apart from corrosion. Thankfully, Sonic hadn't badgered him about it, and as it was still pretty early in the day, the two had plenty of time before it got dark.

They peered out at the long and tall grass that was still dripping with morning dew, letting it shine in the sunlight overhead. There were patches of old, worked stone and tile in the soil that blended with the light clay and rocks. The willows grew high and their vegetation was thick, blocking most of the view above the treeline. A few fallen logs here and there led over the gaps and small ravines that led into the Zone's massive lake, while bushes sported many berries for the local wildlife. The clear waters below were constantly fed by numerous streams and small waterfalls from higher sections of the land. The depths were teeming with various fish, insects, amphibians, and aquatic reptiles, while the surface was tinged with sparse traces of algae. The buzzing of bugs and the chirping of birds could be heard throughout the vast marshlands, something the pair found pleasant.

Further out, they could see tall marble columns that were similar to those the fox had seen in one of his history books. The pillars resembled ones from an old human civilization, the Romans, if Miles recalled correctly. It made him wonder if a fleet of them had visited this place in the distant past and once had a colony. Or, perhaps, the ancients of West Side Island were inspired by the architecture of the Romans, and thus emulated them. In any case, he could see the ruins of more structures beyond the cliff he and Sonic stood on. Many of them were partially submerged in the lake, along with old roads and paths that dipped in and out of the water. It was easy to see how they came up with the name of this place.

"Your island's got some amazing sights, Sonic," Miles said, complimenting the scenery.

The spiny boy smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yep, though I'd like it if we could stick to the high ground."

"Not a fan of getting wet?" the fox presumed.

"Something like that," Sonic replied uneasily.

The teen thought about prodding for more info, but decided against it. Once they were done sightseeing, the fox and hedgehog began their journey through marshes. They kept their pace relatively modest, in no small part due to all the unsteady ground. The two passed by several moss-covered pillars before one of the more pristine columns sprung up in front of him. Miles' sensitive ears picked up a faint click from behind him, and he turned around to see what it was. A slit opened in one of the marble structures and fired a rusty iron arrow, prompting him to dodge. Fortunately, Sonic had also sensed the trap and was quick enough to duck out of the way, the projectile clinking harmlessly off the surface of the column nearby.

Now that he knew there were traps strewn about, Miles kept his ears perked and his eyes peeled even more. He sidled the obstacle in his path, waited for his companion to follow, then continued on to a low bridge over the lake. A short distance ahead, one section of the road had collapsed, but there was a large log that conveniently allowed them to cross. Once that was behind him, the fox noticed the path was split in two directions. One of them went down near the water, and the other would take them across the roofs of ruined buildings.

Heeding Sonic's earlier wish, Miles elected to lead them onto the high road, Roll Jumping to the ledge and jogging up the incline. They came to a ring-shaped loop, this one held up by the ruins around the place, and passed through it easily enough. Another makeshift bridge of wood carried the two over the waterlogged path below, though a glint made the teen stop and take a look. He could see a blue and yellow fish below with some vicious looking teeth, but upon closer inspection, it was not natural. It was yet another Kukku robot, as indicated by the insignia, though it wasn't a model he was familiar with. The droid appeared to be searching for something, the fox figuring it had to have been a Chaos Emerald. With that in mind, he retrieved his multitool from Remi's storage.

Sure enough, the signal he'd picked up last night was much closer here, but still a ways off. Now knowing that, he carried on, and another Roman column rose up from the ground in front of him and Sonic. A bit annoyed, Miles flew them over it and onto the roof of the next structure, which may have been important in its glory days. The fox assumed such due to its sheer size, which kept them running across the top of it for a good short while. His ears caught the sound of another trap being triggered, and he increased his speed, the hedgehog following suit. They outran the arrow, dipping down in the way forward through another loop, but not in the typical manner. From this vantage, it was more of a decorative arch, one that the deadly projectile collided with before falling to the ground.

More trouble loomed ahead for them as they came across a group of five small, fly-based robots. They possessed wings much like their organic counterparts, mounted on small blue bodies with six gray legs, and a motor on the rear. Their red compound eyes and yellow mouths gave the fox pause, suggesting they were based on biting species of the insect.

"What the heck are those?" Sonic wondered, glancing at the teen, "more Kukku bots?"

Miles gazed with uncertainty towards the flies. "Well, they do have the Empire's insignia, but I've never seen this type of unit before. Between these and the other one I saw a few moments ago, something about them is...off."

Having spotted the two, the Kukku creations swooped in to attack, being as agile as their size would suggest. Miles charged up a Spin Dash and blasted right through one of them. Rather than stay to fight, he kept on going, as did the younger Animal. The droids were quick to follow, chasing the boys down an open passage in one of the buildings that led to an open hallway. It had partly sunk into the lake, and so they had to watch their step to evade the flies.

The boys' zigzagging around the pillars in this place managed to trick one of the pursuers into flying right into the stone, breaking the robot apart. The others were not so easily deterred, keeping on the pair's trail as they came to the water's edge. Miles considered diving in to lose them, but there were more of those metallic fish from before, and he didn't want to chance tangling with them underwater while also dealing with a threat above. So instead, he took flight and crossed over the gap, eyes widening as the panel of the pillar just ahead opened up. The fox felt his heart jump as he dipped out of the way just in time for an arrow to pierce through another of the robots chasing him. He landed on a narrow strip of land, with Sonic touching down an instant later, before they took off again to the next outcropping. Miles grimaced at the sight of more flies ahead; it was clear they were going to have to fight if they wanted to get through this place.

'The doctor sure has been working fast,' the fox thought, 'but why do these designs seem so weird? Looking at them, it feels more like he copied them instead of devising them himself. Has the Empire started outsourcing, or has the old hoot become a plagiarist?'

Either way, these things had to be dealt with. Miles spun on his heel the moment he touched down on the next bit of ground, Roll Jumping up towards one of the robots and smashing it apart. Using this momentum, he slammed into another of the flies before gravity pulled him down again. Sonic dove beneath the overhead lunge of the first group's final robot, leaping towards its backside and seizing it by its mechanical wings. It buzzed in protest at this, but was given no time to argue as the hedgehog chucked it into the water behind him, shorting it out. The kid yelled as pain shot up his left arm, one of the newer flies having closed in and chomped down on it. He swatted at it with his free hand, trying to pry it off, but it just clamped down harder, drawing trickles of blood and staining his skin.

The boy focused through the haze of hurt that caused his assaulted limb to tremble, trying to curl up. He managed to eke out a Spin Dash, subsequently crushing the fly and freeing up his arm once more. Seeing his companion hurt, Miles blasted off towards the remaining pair, launching himself up towards the ceiling of the decrepit hallway and bouncing off of it into the first fly, then the second. Letting out a breath of relief, the fox went over to examine Sonic's bite wound. It was no longer bleeding, but the muscles were still a little tender, and it seemed like they would be for a while.

"Let's at least get this covered up so it's not as susceptible to infection," he told the kid.

Miles reached down and tore the hem off of one of his socks to craft a makeshift bandage. He stretched it repeatedly until the material was a bit more lax, then wrapped it around Sonic's arm. He bundled it up and tied it off so that it was snug, but not too tight. The hedgehog gently bent and unbent his limb, then smiled up at him.

"Don't worry, I heal up pretty quick, too," he assured Miles. His expression became curious as he glanced down at the sock around his arm. "Where'd you learn how to do that anyway? I've never seen anyone else try it, but it seems pretty handy!"

The fox hummed and smiled fondly. "A couple of friends showed me how."

"Yeah? What're they like?" Sonic wondered.

"Hmm, I'll tell you later, when we're not dealing with robots and deadly traps in a half-sunken ancient city," Miles said in a compromise.

With that, they ran ahead, coming to a tall loop and moving back down towards the surface of the lake. Just before they touched the water, the two jumped towards a tiny patch of soil that was sticking out of the surface. From there, they leapt into the opening of a ruined building and out the other side onto a long, stable stretch of green. Miles and Sonic stopped after a few minutes of running, the former once again fetching his multitool and giving it another look. The signal was definitely stronger than when he had last checked. He couldn't be one hundred percent certain, but the readings seemed to indicate that the Emerald was a fair way beneath them further ahead. Chances were, the two of them would have to get wet.

As there was only one way for them to find out, they pressed on, Miles keeping his device close and checking it every so often. They ran until they came to the edge of another cliff that overlooked a big portion of the lake. The pair could make out the shapes of more columns sticking out of the water, partly obscured by one of the falls. A passage that dipped into the depths was visible, and what Miles assumed to be the exit wasn't too far off. The remains of a rooftop were a fair distance from where they stood, and more ruins beyond that, but it seemed the safer of the two paths. He couldn't be sure it was the right way to what he was looking for, though.

Miles flew them across the gap to the crumbling rooftop, finding another trio of fly bots in their way. The fox destroyed one of them as he performed a Rolling Jump to the next structure, where he hopped down to a lower ledge. The outcropping above his position forced the robots to pursue him into a more controlled space, which the hedgehog made use of. Sonic leapt onto one of the flies from behind, his spherical attack breaking the other one apart. This allowed Miles to catch the last one in a roundabout strike, leaving them free to resume their trek on the upper level.

But, they were barely given a moment to get their bearings before three more of the same sorts of mechanical menaces dropped down from the trees above. Miles and Sonic blew past them and crossed to what appeared to be the upper part of half of a loop. They sprang to the top of the structure, nearly falling off and into the water below as the edge greeted them. The fox knew they needed more room to deal with the robotic pests, and so he grabbed Sonic and flew across another wide gap to the largest ruined building he'd yet seen. The robots relentlessly followed, even as the teen lured them into the most advantageous position for him. Just as they swooped in to strike, Miles felt around in Remi's space until he brought out a deep blue sphere and chucked it in their direction. It bounced off the one in the front, quickly flashed white, then burst into a strong explosion that took out the trio in one go.

After a short rest to take a few good breaths, he felt good enough to carry on. The robots here may have been easier to deal with than the ones at the plant, but there were more of them as well. He wasn't sure what the ones in the water could do yet, either, but he had a few ideas. Defending himself wouldn't be a big problem if he had to dive in to continue his search, though, for he had some contingencies in addition to his own skills.

The two trotted out onto the shell of an aqueduct, bereft of water despite the abundance around it. A short time later, they came to the top of another loop, this one being complete. Just before he and Sonic could make for another jump, however, the end of the path fell apart beneath their feet. Luckily, it was a short fall, one that Miles managed to break with his tails so that he escaped with no real injuries. As for Sonic, the kid's instinct to roll into his ball form had allowed him to come out relatively unscathed as well.

Miles looked up and noticed that after that, they were now about halfway down the height of the loop, onto a path he hadn't noticed before. Passing through the hole in the center of it, the two entered into a long and dark hallway with light at the far end. The crashing of a waterfall above lent the place a constant, almost deafening ambiance. It was because of that, Miles wasn't aware of a familiar click coming from one of the walls nearby. A glint caught Sonic's eye that reflected off of the light ahead of him, and he realized almost too late what it was.

"Watch out!" Sonic yelled.

Miles whipped his head to the side, burning pain spreading through his left cheek as the edge of an arrow slashed across it, but thankfully didn't go in any deeper. Miles wasn't given time to process his wound before a pebble dropped down onto his head from above. He snapped his focus upward, where he saw cracks beginning to form in the ceiling, more light peering into the passage. Without any further prompting, the boys ran forward. Miles ignored the pain in his cheek as fear kicked in, going as fast as he could in such a space. He weaved out of the way of a collapsing column, only to have a different one rise up in front of him. Thinking only of helping his hero, Sonic demolished the pillar with a Spin Dash, bringing them close to the exit.

The fox and hedgehog leapt as far as they could from the ledge they ended up on, traveling several tens of meters before gravity brought them back down. With a mighty splash, they sank beneath the surface of the water below, the sounds of the marsh drowned out by the fluid filling their ears. The teen was quick to head for air, using his two tails as a sort of outboard motor to propel himself up. Miles took in a deep breath once he surfaced, paddling towards the nearest outcropping he could find. He gazed back at the wreckage of the ruins and couldn't help laughing a little in spite of himself.

"Whew! That was like a scene out of one of those classic action movies," he said with a thrilled grin, "pretty sweet, huh, Sonic?"

Silence greeted him, which unnerved the fox. Miles scanned around, not seeing the hedgehog near him or anywhere around him.

"Sonic? Kid, this isn't funny!" he said in a more panicked tone, his eyes darting around, "I swear, if you're messing with me..."

He stopped when he noticed a cluster of bubbles breaking the surface. The fox tilted his head down, gasping at what he spotted in the clear waters. Sonic was flailing his limbs in an attempt to get to air, but it was getting him nowhere. If anything, he was sinking faster, which only served to make his movements more hurried and desperate. The bit of conversation from last night where the speedster had stopped short suddenly clicked into place for the teen.

'Oh dear gods, he can't swim,' he realized in horror, 'hang on, Sonic!'

Miles inhaled deeply, then dove in once more. His tails helped to propel him down to Sonic's depth, where he took hold of the hedgehog and flipped over in the water. His feet kicked off of the bed of sediment, four limbs working in tandem to bring them back up. The two soared out and above dry land, where the fox twisted them so that he fell with his back to the ground and Sonic on top. The boy pushed off of the teen, coughing and hacking up a bit of water as he hunched over.

Once he was certain the hedgehog was done, Miles got to his feet and went to kneel by him.

"I wish you'd told me before that you couldn't swim," he remarked with some admonishment.

Sonic meekly smiled and shrugged. "I thought you'd tease me if you knew."

True, he had thought of ribbing the boy back for all his talk up to then, but there was a time and a place. One did not make fun of someone's inability to swim, especially while traipsing through a swampy region. Heck, the fox knew a few folks back home that didn't know how, despite the relative necessity for it within the community. It was hardly anything new for him, and he could empathize with people like Sonic.

"Well, I won't," Miles said softly as he patted him on the back to help get out any excess fluids, "keeping you kicking is more important than giving you grief."

Sonic sputtered a little more, then wiped his lips dry. "That's really cool of you, big guy. And...thanks for saving my spines."

Miles was grateful his cheek fur could hide any blush he sported. He did enjoy praise and compliments that came his way, certainly. He could tell Sonic truly meant it, though, unlike most of the surface platitudes he got, and real gratitude was something that still made him feel a bit shy about receiving.

"Don't mention it," he told the hoglet, then gave him another once over, "you good to go?"

Sonic nodded up at him, then slowly got to his feet. Miles shifted his attention to the ping of his radar, now more frequent and louder than before. He pondered flying back up, but as he held his tool in that direction, the reading grew more distant. The fox turned around, noticing the only other means to proceed was an underwater tunnel, one that looked fairly cramped for his liking. The icon on his screen lit up more as he took a step towards it, the distance measured now becoming smaller with every successive movement towards that passage.

He put Remi down onto the ground and passed it his shades, then his gloves and shoes, letting Sonic see that his hands and feet were tawny just like his forearms and lower legs, with short and sharp black claws on the ends of his fingers in place of nails. He kept his multitool in one hand, then looked back at the hedgehog and made a waiting motion with the other.

"Stay here for a moment while I check this out," he declared.

When Sonic showed his understanding with the usual thumbs-up, Miles drew in as deep of a breath as he could and dove in, thankful his trusty gizmo was waterproof. Using his legs and tails together, he emerged from the other side of the submerged tunnel in short order, only to find himself nearly running into a pair of fish robots. They snapped their jaws as they moved nimbly through the water, intent on tearing into him. The fox sank himself down onto part of the ruins, and then used his feet to push himself off as hard as he could. While it wasn't enough to propel him back to the surface, it was enough velocity that he managed to form a Rolling Jump. It came out just in time for the robots to chomp down onto something that ground their teeth to nubs instead, shortly after breaking them apart.

Two little beings that had been hiding nearby came out to thank him for dispatching the unnatural fish. They belonged to a seldom seen tropical penguin Critters that were referred to as Peckies, normally found in saltwater rather than fresh. The pair of flightless birds came to Miles' side and helped tug him towards the surface in return for his aid.

Miles held his multitool out towards the section of the lake he was nearing. Like before, the signal weakened as he waded in that direction, so he tried going back into deeper water. As expected, the distance closed a little bit, meaning that it had to be further down. He stopped the Peckies before they could wander off, swimming over to them and offering a friendly smile.

"Thanks, you guys," he said, nodding towards the depths, "but I was wondering if you could help me look for something?"

The two small penguins cheeped to one another for a moment, then turned back to Miles with a bob of their heads.

"Okay, I'll be right back," he promised.

He smiled at them and puffed out his chest with another deep breath. The teen plunged into the water, backtracked through the tunnel, then surfaced at the edge near where he left Sonic. He pulled himself up enough so that he could face his two companions, shaking the water from his bangs so they didn't droop over his face. The grin on his face told the younger boy that he was up to something.

"Hey, Sonic, want to help me search?" he offered in a playful tone.

The hedgehog cocked his head in confusion. "Uh, how? I can't swim, remember?"

"Don't worry, I have a solution," Miles announced, turning to his faithful robot, "Remi, engage Sea Fox transformation!"

Remi dashed forward and leapt towards the water, changing its shape in mid-air. Just before it touched down, the little automaton had become a sleek, yet also angular miniature submarine with a blue and orange color scheme. It had a one-person cockpit in the top of its hull, which was covered by a resilient and aquadynamic glass dome, and looked to be driven by a single propeller on its back. It also sported two tail planes on the top of its rear and one on the bottom, and a large drill that was mounted on the front of the craft. Remi's new form splashed down and buoyed itself almost immediately, then popped the top open.

Sonic let out an impressed whistle. "Nice!" He went to hop into the cockpit and put his hands on the steering yoke, taking a look around at the console. "It looks easy to work with, too."

"You'll get a handle on it," Miles said confidently.

Indeed, after a couple of minutes testing out the controls, the hedgehog acclimated well enough to get the Sea Fox to move around as he wanted. Afterwards, the two of them returned to the pair of Peckies and proceeded further into the depths. The blue tint of the underwater world made it difficult to see far for the teen, given he had no goggles or manner of corrective visual device. That said, he could still appreciate the sight of the immense underwater city around him. The lake must have gone tens of meters down, if not a hundred, for there to be so many massive ruins that reached as far up as they did. He'd like to come back and take a better look at some point when they weren't dealing with the Empire.

The Sea Fox engaged a bright LED light as they went further down, which helped to light up much of the area around. One of the two Peckies dove ahead of the fox, skimming along the underside of one sunken structure. A moment later, it returned to him and gestured to follow, which Miles didn't argue with. It had come across a hole just large enough for the fox to fit through. He gestured for Sonic to wait and then wasted no time in swimming on up after the Critters. After a few seconds, he was surprised to find his head out of water, able to draw in air thanks to a pocket within the ruins. The two Critters followed his lead, making sure their breaths were good and even before they went back down.

After rejoining the hedgehog, Miles and his companions passed by an underwater loop, the fox's eyes fixed on his radar the whole way. They came into the chamber of a different structure within another minute, fortunate to find another air pocket they could rest. The reading kept growing stronger with every second, until Miles was certain he could spot it. One of the Peckies bumped into him and pointed with its flipper down near the bottom of the chamber they had entered only moments ago. Squinting with his eyes, the fox saw a shimmering, deep blue light coming from where the penguin had directed his attention.

He tried to speak, his words coming out a gurgling mess, but the Critters seemed to understand him anyway. The two birds darted through the waters and retrieved what he had pointed out. Miles squinted through his blurred vision and felt familiar energy flowing into him once he grasped the object. Yep, there was no doubt that this had to be the blue Chaos Emerald, which brought his gem count up to three.

Before he could celebrate, one of the Peckies pushed him back as another of the Kukku fish whipped his way. Bubbles came from the fox's mouth as he yelped, having lost some of his air with that act. He started to swim for the nearest air pocket, trying to propel himself as fast as he could with his tails. The robot had come back around and was ready to drag the fox away from the surface, only to be rammed by the two penguins. It didn't hurt the robot, but it did distract it long enough for Miles to draw breath and dive back in, ready to clobber the fish.

Sonic hadn't seen the latter action, however, nor could he have known Miles' plan beforehand. Thus, seeing the older boy in what he perceived to be significant danger, his hands went to the controls and pressed one of the buttons. Just as the fox was ready to crash into the robot, he spotted something streaming their way through the way. His eyes widened as he recognized it as one of the Sea Fox's vulcan cannon projectiles and spun his tails to hurriedly weave out of the way. To Sonic's luck, there had been another bot lying in wait, only to come out at exactly the wrong moment. The resulting blast sent the fox tumbling through the water, his vision a bit out of sorts for a brief moment.

He regained his bearings in time to avoid a bite from the robot, then shot higher up into the water. While the fish gave chase, Sonic tapped at another option. A pair of missiles fired away from two ports that had been hidden until he activated them, streaking towards the teen and his persistent pursuer. Miles let out another gurgled yelp as he narrowly dodged these as well, the explosions throwing him and the Kukku droid back down. He wasn't certain Sonic could see him so well with the debris increasing the murkiness of the water, but he angrily gesticulated at him to cease what he was doing.

The kid misinterpreted his meaning and pressed his thumbs into the buttons at the top of the yoke. Upon realizing it was one of his torpedoes, Miles frantically put his tails to work to try and outspeed the robot. The projectile would thankfully home in on the fish, but he didn't want to be in the area when it went off. He barreled up the air pocket once more and took flight, pressing himself against the ceiling of the cramped chamber. The fox was nearly knocked back into the water as the structure shuddered from the explosion being set off at the bottom of the tube. When it was clear enough to see through again, he found little more than the bits of scrap that were once a robot.

Relieved that the threat was dealt with, Miles took a little extra time getting his breath back, as well as calming his still trembling heart. Afterwards, the group slowly made their way back to where they came from, stopping every so often to grab some oxygen, more for the fox's sake than anyone else's. They broke the surface, the Peckies flipping through the air and landing neatly on the grass, while Miles pulled himself up from the edge of the shoreline, with Sonic hopping out of the Sea Fox at the same time. The fox shook off his whole body much like his feral Critter ancestors would, leaving him looking a little fluffier than before, much to the amusement of the others. The teen brushed it off, smoothed down his fur, then went over to the Critters.

"Thanks again for the help," Miles said, giving each of the Peckies a pet on the head, "just be sure to watch out for more Kukku contraptions, okay? Take care!"

The two birds chirped happily at the kit, soon waddling over to water and diving in again, waving at the pair one last time before they swam off. Now that they were alone, Miles changed Remi back into his pack form, redressed himself, then hoisted the little robot onto his shoulders. He was about to place the blue Emerald into the storage space, but then remembered he hadn't yet synchronized its energies with the other stones. If he put them together now, the reaction would be even more violent than the one from last night. So, like he had with the green one, he placed it in the fluff of his tails for the time being.

Following that, he refocused his attention on Sonic. Part of him was positively furious with the hedgehog for nearly maiming or killing him with what happened earlier. Even more, he thought that they had established that the kid would help him fight only when he asked for it. That same section of his mind wanted nothing more than to chastise him, ban him from using the Sea Fox, and otherwise tell him off for the help he attempted to provide. Hell, a part of him was tempted to make the boy go home, even if he would stubbornly refuse.

But, much as he wanted to offload that anger, he couldn't hold it against the young speedster. Sonic had meant well by his actions so far, annoying as his quips could be; which had been rather low in number since they woke up, to be fair. And after having patched the kid up and saved him from drowning, was it really that surprising he would try to repay him for it? He knew he would do the same if their positions were switched.

Also, when he thought about it, he honestly should have given the hedgehog a brief tutorial on the weapons systems before they went Emerald hunting. That was on him for being in too much of a hurry to try and find the dang thing, but at least now he knew that Sonic didn't pick up everything at the same speed as the Spin Dash. And despite those prior shenanigans, he was alive and in one piece; that was always nice. Even so, he wasn't about to be all chummy about it. He'd been in real danger, after all.

"Let's not use the Sea Fox again unless we have to," he proposed, unable to hide a little snappiness. He really was trying to curtail his bitterness from being fired at, but as willing as he was to forgive Sonic, he was still a bit rattled from what happened. "Not that I believe you were trying to hit me, but you scared me back there, Sonic."

Sonic chuckled guiltily and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, big guy, I was just trying to help. I promise I'll be more careful!"

"Don't worry about it," Miles said, even if he wasn't truly all that okay with it, "let's just see where we have to go next, alright?"

The teen retrieved his multitool, wanting to remind himself of their objective and put the harrowing experience behind him. A few clicks brought up the next Emerald, which was still a ways out, but not horribly far from their position. They didn't have to deter their path, and it didn't seem like they'd have to go swimming, digging, or spelunking for this gem. However, when he tried to gain a more accurate reading, he found that he wasn't able to pinpoint it beyond a general area. What could have been causing enough interference for that to be possible?

"Hey, Sonic?" Miles asked, the boy's attention turning up to him. "You've been all over West Side Island, right?" When the hedgehog nodded, he continued with his inquiry. "What's to the east of here? Something's messing with the radar on the Miles Electric."

"Oh, I was hoping we'd get to go there!" the boy answered excitedly, "it's one of the big cities on the island, and also one of the biggest entertainment parks in the archipelago! It's called Casino Night Zone!"

'That has to be it, then,' the fox concluded, 'huge concentrations of ring energy are partially scrambling the signal.'

The golden rings that were occasionally found throughout the world were quite the enigma. They were clean and efficient enough to use as energy sources, yet also bountiful enough to act as currency. It was primarily an Animal convention, but the teen had heard that humans were beginning to at least adopt the technological aspect. Having studied them a bit himself, Miles found that their properties were similar to those of the Chaos Emeralds, even giving off a similar signal on his radar. Thus, it stood to reason that with a colossal enough number of them within a given area, they would be able to mask the presence of one of the gems. And Miles couldn't think of any place where there would be more rings than an Animal city whose main attraction was gambling. Even with his fine-tuned functions on the multitool, an exorbitant enough amount would still provide some "static", as it were. It seemed that there was still more work to do in order to get it to properly separate the Emeralds from similar sources of power.

But, on the subject of gambling, he recalled reading about giant pinball machines for those that could use Rolling Attacks, where they bumped themselves high up to line slots and win big or lose it all. There were similar ones that used card holograms instead and gave a payout based on your poker hand, but perhaps he might have been thinking of a different place that had that model. In both cases, so long as you could stay on the board, you could keep accumulating rings. It sounded awfully fun, and the chance to stuff his coffers a little more was rather tempting. It wouldn't hurt to have some extra funds either, would it?

"Then that's where we're headed," the fox decided, putting away his gizmo and picking up the pace, already in a much better mood, "I just hope there isn't an age restriction."

"Nah, they keep all the adult stuff separate from the fun and games," Sonic supplied as he matched the other male's velocity.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I haven't had enough fun yet today," the teen told the younger Animal, "so, maybe we can take a little time to do that while we're there? I'll tell you all about the gems, the Empire, and whatever else we have time to talk about while we enjoy ourselves."

Truthfully, Sonic wasn't sure what to make of everything that had happened in the course of the past few hours, much less since yesterday. And he could tell that while Miles was a little sore about what happened just a few minutes ago, he was also oddly happy to get going. But, with the promise that he would get answers, he wasn't about to spoil the mood. Besides, they were heading to one of the most happening places on the island, and he'd much rather have fun with a seemingly content fox than a definitely grumpy one.